There is substantial evidence worldwide on tobacco taxation and its effectiveness as a tool to control tobacco use. However, a crucial aspect of the market for cigarettes in many low- and middle-income countries has been ignored – the prevalence for selling loose (single) cigarettes, rather than packs of cigarettes. This Research in Brief explores this mostly informal market for loose cigarettes, its dynamics, and unintended policy effects.
Analysis of two main sources of data – the African Cigarettes Prices Project from the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP), and data from all low- and middle-income countries covered by the International Tobacco Control’s (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project – which include information on loose cigarette prices, shows that there is a large market for loose cigarettes in low- and middle-income countries.
This Research in Brief is the summary of ICTD Working Paper 154 written by Max Gallien, Giovanni Occhiali and Hana Ross.
Max Gallien is a Research Fellow at the ICTD. His research specialises in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and development politics. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics. Max co-leads the informality and taxation programme with Vanessa, as well as the ICTD’s capacity building programme.
Evert-jan Quak is a Research Officer at the Institute of Development Studies, where he investigates how and under what conditions businesses and market systems enable or constrain pathways for positive development.
Dr Giovanni Occhiali is a Development Economist based at the Institute of Development Studies, where he works on a number of projects related to Tax Administration and Compliance, Tax and Governance and co-leads ICTD’s capacity building programme together with Dr Max Gallien. His research focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, and outside of the field of taxation his main interests are energy economics and industrial policies. He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and prior to joining ICTD, he was a Researcher at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone.
Hana is the Principle Research Officer for the Economics of Tobacco Control project at the University of Cape Town. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has over seventeen years' experience in conducting research on the economics of tobacco control and in management of research projects in low- and middle-income countries. Her current research projects focus on the economic impact of tobacco control interventions in Africa, South East Asia, and in the European Union. She is also interested in the economic impact of risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases such as obesity, lack of physical activity, and alcohol consumption.
Citation: Gallien, M.; Occhiali, G.; Ross, H. and Quak, E. (2024) An Overlooked Market: Loose Cigarettes, Informal Vendors, and Their Implications for Tobacco Taxation, ICTD Research in Brief 138, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2024.095
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